Metal Lungies

No, It didn’t slip my mind in my earlier post but, I thought the man deserved his own post. He died early Sunday morning from pneumonia, which was crazy to me, after seeing news footage of him just back on Friday when he was giving back to the community by presenting Christmas gifts to the needy. This true icon will be missed.

Read his wikipedia entry here. Looking at his top ten singles, its incredible to see someone be relevant to top the charts for more than 4 decades. This man defiantly left one of the biggest marks on music of any acts in history.

Also, check out boing boing’s entry for a link to a great James Brown playlist from a few Christmases ago and this eerie tidbit:

Reader comment: Andrew Tonkin says,

FYI James recorded a song called “Christmas in Heaven” (Amazon Link) – creepy man, it’s like he KNEW.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you readers out there on the internets, and what better way to celebrate then to see RZA sing a Xmas classic?

enjoy.

(click the video, to watch it because the embedding doesn’t work)

Not as the name suggests, the Harlem Shakes hail from Brooklyn and probably don’t dance as expected. After opening up for bands like Arctic Monkeys (who are they?) and Deerhoof, they are gearing up to release their debut EP “Burning Birthdays”, an appropriately named five-song set powered by carefree, foot-tapping indie basement rock. The vintage texture of this eighteen-minute album goes down smooth with a young, hopeful and melodic voice orchestrated with a fine supporting cast of relaxed overdriven guitars. ‘Missing Our Loved Ones’ hints of Electric Light Orchestra, and comparisons have been made to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – probably the closest geographical and musical well-known yardstick – but a full-length album will be more telling.

-JP

http://www.harlemshakes.com
http://myspace.com/harlemshakes

Recent and Upcoming:

February 6, 2007 – Burning Birthdays (EP)

I must start this post by saying that after a long year i may be taking a break from New York hip-hop. By this I don’t mean all NY hip-hop, i just can’t listen to the new shit. I feel that with the releases of major NY artists Nas and Jay-Z being as inadequate as they are I simply cannot listen to any mainstream NY hip-hop. I must make exception that I did like both Ghostface albums. Dude is talented but if you told me in 2001 that Nas and Jay-z would sound like they do now I would have quit listening just to avoid dissappointment. Maybe I’ll feel different next week. I’m fire and ice. Fire and Ice.

But to my main point. I love Shoutcast. I just bought an old laptop for 100 bucks and I can’t fit any music on the Hard Drive. So when I hit this party a couple nights ago I just hooked shit up to my favorite Shoutcast Station. Left it on all night. I swear on my mother I did not have to change the station once. Large Professor, Eazy- E, Busta Rhymes, Gravediggaz. Shit just flowed classic to classic. All I can say is with such a variety I may not even need an external HD for music on my laptop.

In the fall season of album release madness that includes Jay-Z, The Game, Nas, Snoop Dogg, The Clipse (ML’s album of the year), Young Jeezy, Mos Def, Ghostface, The Re-Up, Trick Daddy (??). Two albums that were near the top of my antcipation have mysteriously disappeared off release schedules for 2006. These two albums, Young Buck‘s Buck Tha World & Talib Kweli‘s Ear Drum have been pushed back. Young Buck has always been my favorite G-Unit rapper, I even dig his Cash Money-era raps, his new album is now slated for February 6. As for Talib, we’ve covered the upcoming album before and now its slated for January, but the best source I could find for this was from a dated interview, and it doesn’t seem too concrete so I feel like it might take a bit longer. Oh and a word of advice don’t trust Amazon’s release dates all the time, as seen with the Young Buck album:

Availability: This title will be released on December 31, 2025. Pre-order now!

Sidenote: On The Game‘s album is it me or does the title track make him sound like it’s his version of Eminem‘s ‘Stan’? I’ve listened to the track over & over then I read the Rolling Stone review, which  mentioned the same thing. Thoughts?

Also just to prove we are not alone thinking The Clipse album is so dope, checkout the pitchfork review & the metacritic rating (The third highest rated album of the year, 12th of MC’s history), as if you needed more convincing you NEED this album. When you need a short break from playing the album on repeat check out what the Clipse’s favorite tracks & albums are and why over at XXL.

out.

If you were looking for the perfect holiday gift for that special Hip-Hopper in your life. Look no furthur. Graffiti World is a book by Nicholas Ganz that shows off street art from hundreds of artists around the world. Graffiti is an important part of hip-hop culture that has roots stemming from those magical years (1977-1979) and this book does a magnificent job of displaying some of the best street art ever done. The book is filled with color photos (over 2000) printed on high quality glossed paper. Each artist’s work is accompanied by a short bio about the writer themself.

This book has introduced me to a whole new side of urban art (who knew Brazil did it like that?) and is an incredibly interesting read. Not to mention the fact that this book will make you the hippest kid amongst all your older yuppie friends. When they see it on your coffee table they’ll be crazy with yuppie envy (truly the worst kind of envy). And if you don’t hang out with yuppies its still a fantastic read.

I copped it for like $35 at Borders. Amazon has it 4 cheep.

BTW. Cop that new Clipse. Golden…

More and more I have been interested in the work of Tenessee rapper, Project Pat. As many of you know, Pat is signed to Hypnotize Minds and was released from prison in July 2005 after serving time for assault charges. Now why would I choose to profile Project Pat, you ask?

Well, I was listening to some old mixtapes earlier today and I came across my copy of God’s Plan. While I was listening to it I could not help to notice one of the standout tracks on the record, 187 Ya Yo. This Tony Yayo freestyle reminded me of a talented gangster rapper who has long since dissappeared and been replaced by this travesty. But throughout it all I could not see any reason why this perfectly good MC turned into the crap he is today.

My only explanation: Tony Yayo had his rap ability raped out of him in prison. Now, many will try to say that the downward trend has effected the entire Guerilla Unit and Tony’s prison stint has nothing to do with the lack of quality in his recent music. I deny this simply based on the fact that 50, Lloyd, and Buck can still ryhme as hard as they used to, but they have changed their style for a more commercial, less threatening, demeanor. Tony, on the other hand, has changed his style, but has lost a notable amount of rap abilty.

Examine the evidence:

187 Ya Yo (Tony Yayo Pre-Prison)

Curious ft. Joe (Tony Yayo Post-Prison)

This brings me back to my original topic, Project Pat. After his prison term it seems that Pat’s rap ability has actually improved. This is especially evident in his already impressive punchlines. Now, Pat has never been a lyrical behemoth but he has always been a rapper who can motivate a riot when necessary. His new material is no exception and makes me wanna tear it up even harder.

Long Story Short. Cop that new LP, Crook By The Book, when it comes out.

I didn’t really need to go into the whole Tony Yayo thing……thats just been buggin me for a minute.